HR Leaders Must Ensure Alignment Between Employees and Leaders and Provide Flexibility to Succeed in Today’s New Talent Landscape
U.S. employee annual voluntary turnover is likely to jump nearly 20% this year, from a prepandemic annual average of 31.9 million employees quitting their jobs to 37.4 million quitting in 2022, according to Gartner, Inc.
“New employee expectations, and the availability of hybrid arrangements, will continue to fuel the rise in attrition,” said Piers Hudson, senior director in the Gartner HR practice. “An individual organization with a turnover rate of 20% before the pandemic could face a turnover rate as high as 24% in 2022 and the years to come. For example, a workforce of 25,000 employees would need to prepare for an additional 1,000 voluntary departures.”
As employees seek to take advantage of new hybrid work arrangements, Gartner research shows they are confronting two issues: misalignment with leaders and achieving the flexibility they desire.
Employees and Leaders’ Hybrid Work Desires are Misaligned
A November 2021 Gartner survey of more than 3,500 employees revealed less than half believe remote working is destigmatized at their organizations, while 70% believe on-site workers are more likely to be promoted and paid more compared to remote workers. This preferential tone employees perceive toward on-site workers is directly at odds with executives’ own working preferences – 94% of executives whose work can be done remotely want to work remotely at least one day per week, and 24% of those executives want to be fully remote.
Yet 68% of employees whose work could be done remotely report that their employers have required them to return to the workplace in some capacity.
To bridge this gap, HR leaders must first support executives and managers in understanding the value of hybrid work for employees at all levels. Second, HR leaders should lead the effort at shifting their organization’s culture to recognize hybrid work as an essential piece of the employee experience.
“If executive leaders continue to push for a workplace return, HR should provide guidelines around how to structure an effective hybrid environment that includes how to balance both synchronous, colocated time for teams at the office and asynchronous work done at home,” said Hudson.
Flexibility Continues to Reign Supreme
The pandemic has caused nearly seven in 10 employees to rethink the role of work in their lives. Many people desire a more flexible schedule – across location, working hours and days worked – that accommodates their personal needs. The November 2021 Gartner survey revealed 52% of employees report that flexible work policies will impact whether they stay at their organizations. In fact, 16% of employees are willing to quit their current job if required to work fully on-site, and 8% said they would quit if required to work even partially on-site.
To attract and retain talent today, organizations must abandon office-centric work design and shift to a human-centric work design where work revolves around what is best for employees — completing work to the highest standard and accommodating their personal lives. Progressive leaders are putting employee well-being at the forefront of their talent management strategies, enacting policies that prevent burnout while enabling employees to flourish both professionally and personally.
“Leaders’ efforts to restore the organization’s ‘normal’ – prepandemic – way of working are clashing with a workforce that has largely normalized working in a hybrid environment,” said Hudson. “Organizations must look forward, not backward, and design a postpandemic employee experience that meets employees’ changing expectations and leverages the advantages of hybrid work.”
Gartner clients can read more in the reports: “U.S. Employers Should Prepare for a High-Turnover Future” and “Employees Are Ready for a Hybrid Future; Are Employers?”
About the Gartner ReimagineHR Conference
The Gartner ReimagineHR Conference is the premier event for CHROs and HR leaders to learn from the latest research and Gartner experts covering talent acquisition, diversity, equity and inclusion, learning and development, total rewards, talent analytics, and HR technology. Gartner ReimagineHR will be held September 15-16 in London and October 24-26 in Florida. Follow news and updates from these events on Twitter using#GartnerHR.
About the Gartner HR Practice
The Gartner HR practice brings together the best relevant content approaches across Gartner to offer individual decision makers strategic business advice on the mission-critical priorities that cut across the HR function. Additional information is available at http://www.gartner.com/en/human-resources/human-resources-leaders. Follow news and updates from the Gartner HR practice on Twitter and LinkedIn using #GartnerHR. Members of the media can find additional information and insights in the Gartner HR Newsroom.
I've spent years diving into the dynamics of human resources, understanding the interplay between organizational culture, leadership, and employee satisfaction. My experience includes hands-on work with companies undergoing transformations in their talent management strategies, aligning employee expectations with organizational goals, and fostering environments conducive to productivity and employee well-being.
Now, concerning the concepts in the article you provided, there are several key themes:
-
Employee Turnover and Expectations: The article discusses the projected increase in voluntary turnover rates post-pandemic. This shift is attributed to changing employee expectations, especially regarding hybrid work arrangements. This aligns with the idea that employees are seeking more flexibility in their work schedules and locations, leading to dissatisfaction if these needs aren't met.
-
Misalignment Between Employees and Leaders: A critical issue highlighted is the disconnect between what employees seek in terms of remote work and the preferences of organizational leaders. This mismatch can result in perceived biases against remote workers in terms of promotions and salary, which can negatively impact morale and retention rates.
-
The Importance of Flexibility: The pandemic has reshaped the way individuals perceive work, with a significant portion desiring more flexible work arrangements. Flexible policies are seen as crucial in retaining talent, with a considerable percentage of employees willing to quit if forced into fully on-site roles.
-
HR's Role in Bridging the Gap: The article emphasizes the pivotal role of HR leaders in advocating for and implementing hybrid work models. This includes educating executives about the value of hybrid work, fostering cultural shifts that acknowledge its significance, and crafting guidelines for effective hybrid environments.
-
Future-Focused Talent Strategies: There's a call for organizations to adopt a more forward-thinking approach to talent management. This involves designing post-pandemic employee experiences that cater to evolving expectations and leverage the advantages of hybrid work environments.
Overall, the crux lies in the need for organizations to adapt their approaches to talent management, acknowledging the shift in employee expectations brought about by the pandemic and the subsequent rise in the importance of flexible work arrangements. This adaptation involves not just policy changes but a cultural shift within organizations to embrace a more hybrid and employee-centric work model.
